


Hallways

by Flanexism



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-04 00:24:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15829977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flanexism/pseuds/Flanexism
Summary: A boy finds himself walking down a stretch of hallways. What he finds at the end of them will change his mysterious past.





	Hallways

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is an original piece of mine. It's gonna be multichapter, so i'll try to update as much as I can. Enjoy~

The walls of the hallways seemed so foreign to him. He didn't really know where they led, or if they even ended. The long grey walls stretched for miles and miles. He kept his hand on the walls as he walked, feeling their smooth, perfect texture. They looked like they were made of concrete, but felt like polished marble.  
Every step he took was filled with uncertainty, but he never felt uneasy. He didn't feel lost, and he didn't feel afraid. He just felt like he was walking down an infinite hallway with no end. Despite every wall and every inch of floor looking the same, he never felt a sense of “deja vu”. He could feel every step was new ground. He was sure the hallways ended eventually.   
Stopping and turning around wasn't an option, anyways. Every time he turned his head to look behind himself, all he saw was a creeping shadow, consuming all his progress. The walls were consumed by warping and writhing tendrils of black darkness, and the floor would cave in with it. As he walked and watched the scene behind his back, he unconsciously took his focus off the path ahead of him.   
Suddenly, his chest bumped hard into something solid. He stopped in his tracks and turned his head back forward to gaze up at what had stopped him.  
A door stood proudly in front of him, its dark wood clashing with the grey walls and white floors that surrounded it. He gazed curiously at it. It felt warm, the edges of its frame leaking a dull yellow glow. Its knob was golden, but looked worn from use. Strange, he thought, as this door was pretty deep in the path of these hallways. Where ever they may be.   
He took one last glance behind himself and noticed the tendrils of the shadow had stopped moving, patiently undulating, waiting for his next step.  
He decided to take this next step and turned to grab the knob of the door. He took a slow breath, turned it, and pushed the door inwards.   
What greeted him beyond that door was nothing he expected. Then again, he didn't really know what to expect.   
The room looked like a personal library. Shelves of books lined the walls and a small, elegant fireplace sat in the middle on the far wall. The carpet was a rich brown with a red oriental rug placed over it in the middle of the room. To the left, a grand piano sat idly. It looked well taken care of, its black exterior shining in a glow with the fireplace. To the right...sat a man. He sat in a small red armchair, his leg crossed over the other and his hands gently holding a book. Very gingerly, a hand turned to the next page. The man's face was covered in a void-like shadow. The aura around him was dark, but he did not give off a threatening vibe. He could tell the man in the chair acknowledged his presence, but his hands on the book in front of him did not budge, nor did his shadowed and cloudy face move to look at him.  
He cleared his throat and stepped further into the room. He felt the plush carpet under his shoes, compared to the hard stone floors of the halls. For a moment, he just stared at the man in the chair. Despite having no discernible face, he knew the man wasn't looking back.   
The man's lower torso was draped snugly in a red and black robe, his pants a dark black. His hands were skinny and long, but black like the shadow around his head. The shadow seeped to part of his shoulders and faded off, like oddly placed dramatic lighting.   
He squinted to see if he could make out any features of the man's upper torso, but found his eyes only straining to look at darkness. Then, without warning, the man in the chair slammed his book shut. He felt a gaze on him, despite the man having none. A chill ran up his spine as the gaze fell on his own face. He heard a low rumble in the room.  
“So, I assume you were the one making all that noise down the halls?” The man in the chair spoke.   
The boy at the door held his breath. Chair-man had developed a wide split in the shadow of his face and revealed a very comical, but also quite terrifying mouth. When it spoke, it opened wide and closed very slightly, forming words almost like a sock poppet. His teeth were pointy but spread out, looking less dangerous and even more comical. He didn't move an inch when he talked, however. Only his mouth seemed to animate life.  
The boy blinked slowly.   
Chair-man sighed and set his book down next to him on the arm of the chair, sitting up straight and folding his hands in his lap.   
“Will you answer me? Or will you continue to stare.” His invisible gaze started to feel impatient. The boy continued to stare. Another sharp sigh from the Chair-man and he relaxed his shoulders.   
“I'm sure you're experiencing what you do not understand at the moment, but please, if you would...collect yourself together and close my door.” He motioned a slender hand to the door behind the boy.  
Wordlessly, he stepped in and closed the door. Slowly, the white light behind the cracks of the door disappeared. He turned around again to face the man. The cracks of the fire filled the silence for a moment.   
“Sit.” Chair-man commanded, snapping his fingers. The boy watched as a small stool appeared in front of the man, seemingly the footstool of the chair he sat in. The boy took his first uncertain step and walked towards the stool.  
As he got closer to the man, he felt his skin crawl. It wasn't a creepy crawl, but more of an uneasy one. The shadow aura that swirled very very slowly over his upper being was haunting, but also fascinating. It was dark and void of any feature, texture, or light. The boy sat on the stool, which was very low to the ground, forcing his knees to his chest.   
“Tell me, boy. How did you find me?” The man adjusted his hands in his lap, looking expectantly down at the boy in front of him. The boy shrugged.   
“You don't know?” He went quiet in thought. The boy tried to ignore how unsettling it was to watch the mans mouth move.   
“Do you remember anything before those halls?” He asked. The boy shook his head. “Your name?” Another shake 'no'. The man nodded.   
“Well it seems someone has put you here, and for once, it wasn't my doing.” He mumbled the last part, lifting his hand to stroke the void of his face. He ran his hand over it like it was smooth and solid. The boy perked up. He still couldn't wrap his head around what his face was or if he had one, but now he knew part of it was solid. He kept that in mind, despite probably never needing that knowledge.  
Chair-man lowered his hand again and leaned to sit forward, his face getting closer down to the boys. The boy noticed he smelled like books and old wood.   
“Now, you might not like this, but I'm afraid you're going to have to stay here with me.” he sighed. His mouth looked like it belonged to something else entirely and was even more uncanny up close. The boy nodded anyways. He didn't fear the idea of staying here, he really didn't know if he had anywhere else to go. The man nodded back.  
“Good. And, don't worry, this isn't the only room I own. This is only one room out of many.” He smiled an open mouthed grin. Now the boy felt worried.   
The man lingered a moment longer near the boys face, seemingly analyzing it. The boy blinked at the man and he sat back. Standing up, the robe fell off his knees and flowed behind him as he walked towards a door behind the piano area. The boy hadn't noticed any other doors.  
Swiftly, the man turned to face him and looked patiently at him. The boy suddenly felt small. The view behind the door the man stood in front of was dark but big.  
“Follow me, boy.” He told him, his gaze glued to him.  
He stood up from his stool and walked around the piano, standing next to the man. But something felt off.  
The more the boy stood around him, the more he realized he didn't feel very human.   
Chair-man gazed down at him. He was much taller than the boy.   
“Do not touch anything unless told to. Everything here is very precious to me. Do not enter any rooms unless given permission. And most importantly...Don't make too much noise.” He snapped at the boy. His mouth was wide as he explained the rules. The boy nodded.   
“Good.” He turned and walked forward. The door closed behind them as the boy followed.   
This chamber was big and dark. It held a blue hue as if the night sky was pouring in from windows. A big spiral staircase made of the same wood as the library shelves led up a level, covering a good majority of the left side of the space. The wall to their right held more shelves and more books.   
After a few steps, the boy and the man passed two shut doors. The boy tried not to look at them, but caught a glance at them. There was no life behind them and they were dark.   
Finally, the boy followed Chair-man through a large door at the end of the chamber. An even larger room was in front of him. It seemed like the grand hall of the place. There was a big staircase leading to the upper floors like the spiral case, and at the bottom was a large rug. The hall was dark, but as he looked up, the boy noticed a chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the middle. He wondered why the place was so dark. The man led him straight, ignoring the entire hall and walking to an entrance at the other side.  
It was the same door they had walked through, but this one led to a set of stairs going down. Chair-man looked down to the boy.   
“Do you fear the dark?” he asked. The boy was scared of it right then, but he shook his head no. The man nodded and led him down the stairs into the dark. He nervously followed behind, keeping at his tail.   
The stairs felt like they lasted hours, but finally, they made it to a lower level and stepped off.   
The boy looked at the room in front of him. He blinked and suddenly there was a door there. Confused, he looked up. The room was now cut off by a wall, adding a more closed off feeling. Chair-man opened the now existent door and motioned for the boy to go inside. He obeyed and stepped into the room. Chair-man snapped his fingers and a dozen or so candles lit aflame. The room instantly flushed with a warm glow, and the boy blinked to adjust.   
“This will be your room. I added the wall for your privacy. I hope it suits your needs for now. I'm sorry it's so far down here, but it's the only place I could let you stay.” He explained. He had never entered the room himself. The boy turned to him. Chair-man kept himself a distance away from the door.  
“If you need me, tap anything three times.” The door closed, and the boy was left alone.   
He stared emotionless at the door before blinking and turning around again. The room was fairly big.   
It felt like the master bedroom of a castle if it had been inhabited by a servant. In the middle was a big, plush, king sized bed. It had a beautiful brown wooden headboard with carvings of strange symbols set in a pattern. The sheets and comforter were red, along with the pillows. On either sides of the bed were nightstands, the same brown as the headboard. The candles that had lit were on the tops of both, along with a vase of flowers on one. The carpet was a rich brown, like in the library room. The right wall held a door. It was open and looked close to a bathroom. He wasn't sure.   
He then took another step into the room. A large dresser sat on the left side of the wall of the door he came in. On the right, was a big vanity with a large rectangle mirror. The edges were engraved with the same pattern as the headboard.   
When he turned his head back to the bed, he noticed a pair of gently and neatly folded clothes sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked down at his own clothes. He wasn't wearing anything fancy. White shirt, jeans and blue shoes. He looked back up at the folded clothes and stepped to pick them up. As they unfolded themselves he noticed it was a long, red nightgown. This man sure loved red, he thought. The material was silk-like and soft, but also very loose and thin. He contemplated himself for a moment and then set it down on the bed, stripping himself of his own clothes. He pulled over the nightgown and smoothed it out around him. It felt perfect for him. He picked up his old clothes and folded them, setting them on the dresser behind him.   
He decided to check out the bathroom. So, very cautiously, he walked towards the door to what he assumed was the bathroom. He searched for a light switch on the wall. None. He creaked open the door more. He couldn't see anything. He frowned and grabbed a candle from the nightstand, feeling the wax drip and singe his hand a bit. He carried it to the door and extended it into the room. The walls were white, but the floor was a black tile. The far end of the room held a big tub. It was bigger than any tub he had seen. His eyes lit up as he saw it. The wall of the door had a row of counter top with a fancy sink in the middle. On top of the counter was a long and tall mirror, covering the entire wall. The boy let himself further in the room.   
He contemplated using the bath. But right before he could decide against it, the large faucet of the tub turned itself on and out poured steaming hot water. He noticed another faucet on the opposite side of the first, pouring out what he assumed was cold water. The boy smiled for the first time and set down the candle. He went out to collect four more candles and set them up around the large outer edge of the tub. The tub made up that whole side of the room and had small steps leading into it. He slipped off his nightgown and stepped carefully in.  
The feeling of the just-right warm water against his body was perfect. He sank in, noticing the bubbles forming as the water continued to fill up the tub. He had no clue what was causing this, but silently thanked whatever it was. He felt great. He leaned his head against the edge of the tub and closed his eyes.  
The flicker of the candle light was enough to lull him into a dreamy state, his daydreams taking him over. He thought of the mysterious Chair-man, and his void-like face. He thought of his mouth and how creepy it was. The man himself didn't scare him. He actually liked the presence of him. He couldn't remember much of anything before the long halls, so new company was nice. He then thought of the man's voice. He never really thought about it until now. It was so...ethereal. Like one voice followed by a low chest-rumbling hum. His voice wasn't particularly deep, but it wasn't high pitched. It sounded fake, really. No husk, no gruff, no growl. Just a calm, slow voice. The boy sank himself further into the bath water. He didn't want to think about the man anymore, he thought as his cheeks ran flush. The water was pretty hot. Yeah, that's it.

An hour passed of the boy sitting and thinking. He snapped himself out of his thoughts when he heard a quiet drip of movement in the water in front of him. He shot his eyes open and looked over the bubbles. A big, black massive shape was sitting in the water across from him. It was round and seemed to be lounging against the tub. It's arms...all four of them, actually, were rested along the edge of the tub. The arms ended in points, looking like tendrils. It's skin was a greyish black, but it's face was a shadow. The boy blinked and sat up straight, bringing his legs as close as possible. The thing was looking at him and smiling. It's grin stretched wide across its round face. It noticed the shocked look on the boys face and leaned its head back in a hardy laugh. It's round stomach bounced as it laughed.   
“Well, hello Mr. new kid. I heard you're the mute the Mister's been talkin about.” It's voice was terrifying. It was deep and held a low growl behind it. It's whole situation sort of reminded the boy of the “basement boogieman” stereotype. It didn't have eyes but he felt the firm gaze it held. The boy only stared and shifted his legs under the water.  
“Don't worry, im not gonna eat you...maybe.” It grinned again. Another laugh. “Im just messin' with ya. Name's Blaotrett. You can just call me Blao, though.” Blao raised one of his tendril arms and rubbed it along his forehead, the water under him rippling as he moved.   
The boy kept his eyes locked on him and nodded. He didn't like the vibe this creature gave off.   
“Also, I should correct myself. The Mister wasn't talking to us about you, I just noticed you came in and...sorta-kinda-maybe listened to everything he told you.” He chuckled and shrugged. “Not my fault I'm curious.” He gave one last laugh before heaving himself up by his arms, his massive shape dragging itself out of the water. He had two thick legs that held him up as he stepped out of the tub. Thankfully, there was nothing too explicit about him, but the boy turned his gaze away anyways.   
“Whelp, i'll leave you to your first night alone. Catch ya later kid. Oh and...one more thing.” He stopped himself halfway to the door of the bathroom and turned to the boy with a menacing grin. “Try not to get too attached to the Mister, alright?” Blaot kept his grin until he turned around and walked out the bathroom door, shutting it again. 

The boy sat there for a minute, mulling over what just happened. He assumed the “Mister” was Chair-man. And...Blaot had said...us. Who was us? Were there other like Blaot and the Mister? He sure hoped not.   
Shaken, the boy slowly got himself up and out of the bath, trying his best not to slip on the water Blaot had left on the tile floor. He dried himself off with a towel hanging from a rack on the wall and slipped into his nightgown again. Blowing out the candles and leaving the bathroom, the boy pulled back the sheets of the bed and slipped in. He blew out the rest of the candles and rested himself into the plush pillows and sighed.   
He closed his eyes and pulled the sheets up to his chin. Praying no more Blaot creatures would show up.   
Before long, his mind slipped into a state of unconsciousness and he drifted into a dream.


End file.
